Save the Planet. Those words are all over the net lately. While some
solutions for preserving the environment can help you save money, like
turn you thermostat down 3 degrees or using warn water to wash your
clothing instead of hot water, many cost you more. I want to save the planet
as much as the next person, but spending $8 a bottle for Eco-friendly window cleaner or buying a hybrid car are just not in my budget. Besides, with all the highway driving I do, my Honda Civic gets better gas mileage than the Civic Hybrid.
So a few years back I accidentally found a way to help mother nature
and save a buck or at the same time. I say accidentally because I was
really only looking to save a buck or two, the thought of going green didn't even cross my mind at the time. Here's my helpful tip along with the story:
I was renting a small apartment with a windows air conditioner in the
bed room. As we all know a windows air conditioner has a constant dip
and non-drinkable liquid waste. Basically water with some chemicals in it. I decided to put this waste product to good use. I sat a 10 gallon bucket below the window and as the AC ran during the day the waste water dripped into and filled the
bucket. When the bucket got full I would take a couple of 1 gallon jugs
down, dip them in the bucket and fill them up. I would then store these
jugs in my bathroom and use the waste water to flush the toilet.
Recycling what would normally by a wasteful byproduct of using an air
conditioner and saving money at the same time.
I once heard that it cost 12¢/flush to flush the toilet. That was a
few years back and in my area they have raised the price of water a
couple of time, so I bet it is at least 16¢ now. Using this method 4 times
per day during the 4 months that I usually run the AC throughout the
year will save about $75/year. Not bad.
A few years ago I saw a report on the news where some families in Japan
using the old bath water to wash the dishes. While I found that
totally disgusting, I don't see anything wrong with using your old bath
water (or even your old dish water) to flush the toilet during the rest of
the year. This would save almost $150.00 a year and if everyone did it,
just think of the impact it would have on the environment and helping
preserve our fresh water supplies.
I may have to start calling myself the accidental environmentalist.
These are some pics of some freebies I got in the mail over the past couple weeks. Some hair care products, cereal, drink mixes, a cookbook, some Cream Of Wheat, a sample of Old Spice Body Wash (great for travel) and yes Betty Crocker sent me a free sample of Warm Delights (very good)!
If you want to start getting in on the action and picking up some freebies yourself, I've been posting links on twitter. You can see my most recently tweets in the right side bar, but the best way to keep up to date is the follow @kingofclearance on Twitter.
I would write more, but I just paid my income taxes today and I'm on kind of a funk. Need to get out and change my mood. Maybe a trip to Target will do the trick.
As always, thanks for reading.
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